Bag-seal.



E. J. BROOKS.

BAG SEAL.

APPLICATION FILED D0.17, 1906.

912,533. Patented Feb. 16, 1909.

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EDWARD J. BROOKS, OF EAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY.

BAG-SEAL. I

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 16, 1909.

Application filed December 1'7, 1908. Serial No. 467,949.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD J. BROOKS, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of East Orange, in the State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in BagSeals, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to means for securely fastening and sealing the necks of bags of textile fabric containing gold or silver coin or other valuables, or articles of merchandise, so as to insure the detection of any tampering therewith, and thus to prevent the abstraction of the contents.

The present invention consists in certain novel combinations of parts, and in an improved bag seal embodying such combinations or any of them, all as hereinafter more particularly described.

The leading objects of this invention are to produce a very light and inexpensive bag seal having a press-fastenable seal disk of sheet-metal and a shackle of pliable metallic wire substantially free from resiliency in place of the more common cord or twine, and without the spear part set forth in my specification forming part of United States Letters Patent No. 836,431, dated November 20, 1906, and at the same time to adapt it to become inseparably attached to the neck of a bag in effective position and to securely fasten and seal the bag against the abstraction of its contents.

Other objects will be set forth in the general description which follows.

A sheet of drawings accompanies this specification as part thereof.

Figure 1 represents the wire shackle of one of my improved bag seals as it appears before assembling the parts; Figs. 2 and 3, Figs. 4 and 5, and Figs. 6 and 7 represent respectively face and edge views of the several parts of the seal disk as they appear before being assembled, Fig. 3 being in section; Fig. 8 and 9 represent face and edge views of the completed seal disk; Fig. 10 represents the shackle and seal disk as preliminarily united for shipment and handling; Fig. 11 represents a cross section through the neck of a bag and a corresponding view of the same seal as it appears after being applied to the bag; Figs. 12 and 13 represent sections on the line AB, Fig. 11, showing the seal disk as it appears before and after the press fastening operation;

Figs. 14 and 15 represent views similar to Fig. 11, illustrating different methods of threading the same seal disk; Fig. 16 represents another form of the shackle detached; Figs. 17 and 18 represent face and edge views of the perforated part of a modified seal disk; Fig. 19 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 11, showing an improved seal having said modified disk part as applied to a bag; Figs. 20 and 21 represent face and edge views of the perforated part of another modified seal disk; and Fig. 22 is another sectional view similar to Fig. 11, showing the improved seal as constructed with the modified seal part last mentioned.

Like reference characters refer to like parts in all the figures.

The improved bag seal is composed of a pliable shackle, a or o of metallic Wire suficiently stiff to facilitate thrusting it through the fabric of the bag and threading and rethreading it through a seal disk, but substantially free from resiliency so as to retain its shape when drawn tight around the neck cfthe bag, and when sharply bent, as in the final threading operation herein described, and a press fastenable seal disk preferably of sheet metal and paper or the like, including a perforated disk part, b or b or 6 and adapted to be preliminarily attached to the shackle and to be effectively rethreaded preparatory to the press fastening operation which secures the ends of the neckembracing shackle against separation or withdrawal from the seal disk and fastens and seals the ba in all the species represented bythe drawings, the ends, 1 and 2, of the shackle (a or (1 are provided respectively with a sharp bag piercing point and with an eye like that of a screw eye as a seal-disk-attaching device; the perforated disk part (b or b or 6 is stamped from suitable sheet metal, which may be sufficiently ductile tin plate, and is provided at the stamping operation with a rim, 3, that forms the circumferential seam, 3", by which the parts of the seal disk are inseparably united at the factory; a flat sheet-metal disk part, 0 (Figs. 4 and 5), fits within said rim to interact with those portions of the shackle within the seal disk; and a label disk, d (Figs. 6 and 7), fits within said rim upon said flat sheet-metal disk part, being provided with a serial number or other permanent distinguishing mark and with designated blanks for the name or mark of the sealer and for the date of sealing or the like.

In the species represented by Figs. 1 to 13 inclusive, the shackle a (Fig. 1) is of ordinary round wire, selected with reference to pliability with sufficient stiffness and substantial freedom from resiliency, as aforesaid, and cut to the required length, its sharp pointed end, 1, being beveled at the cutting o eration; and the perforated disk part 1) (Figs. 2 and 3) is dome-shaped and constructed with six threading holes, 1-6, in its circumferential sides, arranged so as to form a central pair (1 and 2) through which the shackle is threaded in preliminarily attaching the seal disk (Fig. 10), and two additional pairs (34 and 5-6) which may be considered as arranged diagonally on opposite sides of said central pair or parallel therewith, according to how the shackle is rethreaded through the seal disk. Compare Figs. 11, 12 and 13, 'in which the threading holes are numbered in the order of the pas sage or the first passage of the shackle therethrough, with Figs. 14 and 15 hereinafter more particularly described.

In the mode of completing the seal represented by Fig. 11, after thrusting the sharp end 1" of the shackle a through the loosely closed neck of the bag, represented at x, the shackle is wrapped tightly around the bag neck to form one or more embracin coils, and is then rethreaded diagonally lZiI'OIlgh two of the additional holes, 3 and 4, drawn taut and bent at right angles. It is then rethreaded through two of the additional holes, 5 and 6, and wrapped around the bag neck in one or more additional coils and again passed through said additional holes- 3 and 4 first used, and again drawn taut. The protruding sharp end 1 may then, or preferably after the press fastening operation, be cut off as represented by the dotted line 4 in Fig. 11. Before the seal press is applied the shackle portions within the seal disk will appear substantially as in Fig. 12, crossing eac other at the center of the disk and lying in different planes. When the seal ress is applied the dome of the perforatec disk part b is inverted as re resented at f in Fig. 13, and presses and i olds the shackle ortions against each other and against the flat sheet-metal disk part c, and the separation or Withdrawal of the shackle ends is prevented.

In the modes of applying the seal represented by Fig. 14 and Fig. 15, the shackle a is so dis osed as to form a pair of neck-embracing oops adapted to be simultaneously tightened around the neck of the bag, and the seal disk above described (Figs. 2-9) being the seal disk shown in Figs. 11-13, may be threaded to form such loops at the factory. In Fig. 14 the shackle after being threaded through the central pair of holes, 1 and 2, is threaded and rethreaded through a pair of the additional holes at one side of said central hole, as represented at 3 and 4, and then through the pair at the opposite side of the centralpair as represented at 5 V and 6, and back through the central pair in a reverse direction to form the two loops. In Fig. 15 the shackle after passing through the central holes 1 and 2 is threaded through the additional holes 84 and 5'6, as in Fig. 11, and is then brought back through the central pair of holes in a reverse direction. In both arrangements the ends of the shackle (a) protrude centrally, and by pulling on them both loops are simultaneously but independently tightened around the bag neck, after which the seal press is applied and the protruding ends of the shackle cut off close to the seal disk.

Suitable seal presses for press fastening the seal constructed and applied as above described are set forth in my specification and drawings forming a part of United States Letters Patent No. 660,837 dated October 30, 1900; and my specification and drawings forming part of United States Letters Patent No. 844,095 dated February 12, 1907, but for the purposes of this invention the seal press may be of any known or im oved construction adapted to consolidate t e seal disk to a sufilcient extent to securely fasten the shackle ends against se aration or withdrawal and thus to fasten the bag.

The shackle a represented by Fig. 16 is constructed of the zigzag wire set forth in my specification and drawings forming part of United States Letters Patent No. 323,849 dated August 4, 1885, and is otherwise of the same construction as the shackle a, as above described; that is to say, it is constructed with a sharp bag iercing end, 1, and with a seal-disk attac ring eye, 2, at its other extremity.

The perforate d disk part 6 represented by Figs. 17 and 18, is constructed with a single pair of threading holes 1 and 2, formed at the extremities of a tunnel-shaped *ortion, g, of the disk, which is formed simu taneously with the marginal rim 3 by the stamping ma chine. posed to be identical with that of the seal disk of the first species above described, and the shackle (a) may be of either of the makes 'above described. After thrusting the sharp end of the shackle through the neck of the bag, represented at a, it is drawn taut and wrapped tightly around the neck one or more times, and then rethreaded through the same holes in a reverse direction as represented in Fig. 1 9 after which the seal press is applied, and the protruding shackle ends are cut off to complete the seal.

The perforated disk part 5 represented by Figs. 20 and 21 and in Fig. 22 isof the same The remainder of the seal disk is suptype as said perforated disk part I)", being constructed with two pairs of threading holes 12 and 34 formed in the same manner as the single pair of said disk part b by tunnels g, and otherwise the improved seal embodying this disk part b is intended to be of the same construction as those previously described, and the shackle (a) may be of either of the makes above described. The shackle having been threaded through one of the pairs of holes (1 and 2) its shar end is thrust through the neck of the bag represented at it. It is then drawn taut, and wrapped around the neck inone or more tight coils and rethreaded through the other pair of holes (3 and 4), after which the seal press is applied and the protruding shackle ends are cut of' close to the seal disk to complete the seal.

In using one of my improved seal disks of novel construction in itself, suitable pliable wire may be drawn through the fabric of the bag by means of a needle or with the aid of a suitable awl so as to dispense with the sharp pointed end of the shackle; and in this l the shackle may be simply cut in suitable lengths from a continuous wire and threaded l either at the factory or by the user, as may be preferred. it is highly advantageous, however, to be able to preliminarily unite the shackle and seal disk as in Fig. 10, and in l this form the seals would be tied together in bunches of 100, more or less, by a cord or wire extending around the shackles near 1 their sharp ends and can also be tied together by a cord or wire passing throu h the eyes 2 I of the several shackles beneath flie seal disks, 3 so as to keep the bundles in compact shape 5 for shipment. After the bundles are opened, the seals are conveniently carried by the shackles and applied as above described. l The label disk, (1, which is intended to r form a part of the improved seal disk in all its forms, being an inseparable part of the l seal, may conveniently be provided with l sufficient distinguishing marks by printing and writing or by rubber stamps, so as to obviate any necessity for impressing the sheet metal with distinguishing marks at the press fastening operation, which necessarily involves the application of considerable I force by means of the seal press. The perforated disk may, however, be stamped with a distinguishing mark by the seal press if preferred, and other like modifications will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art. Having thus described said improvement, I claim as my invention and desire to patent under this specification: l 1. The combination, in a bag seal, of a l shackle of pliable metallic wire substantially l free from resiliency, having a sharp-pointed neck piercing end and a disk-attaching heel end in the form of an eye, and a perforated and press fastenable seal disk through which the shackle is preliminarily threaded and which is constructed to permit the sharp pointed end of the wire to be rethreaded therethrough after being passed through and Wrapped around the neck of a bag and to be press fastened to secure the shackle against withdrawal.

2. The combination, in a bag seal, of a shackle of pliable metallic wire substantially free from resiliency having a sharp-pointed neck piercing end, and a disk-attaching heel end, and a press 'fastenable seal disk coirposed of a perforated sheet-metal disk part, a fiat sheet-metal disk part and a label disk inseparably united by a circumferential seam, said perforated disk being constructed to permit the sharp-pointed end of the shackle to be rethreaded therethrough after being thrust through and tightened around the neck of a bag and to be changed in shape at the press fastening operation and to hold the shackle between it and said flat disk part.

3. In a bag seal, the combination with a flexible neck-embracing shackle of a press fastenable seal disk having a dome-shaped sheet-metal disk part constructed with six threading holes arranged in its circumferential sides and forming a central pair and two flanking pairs adapted to permit the shackle to be threaded centrally therethrough to preliminarily attach the seal disk to the shackle and to be rethreaded therethrough after being tightened around the neck of a bag.

4. An improved bag seal having, in combination, a nec -embracing shackle of pliable metallic wire substantially free from resiliency constructed with a sharp-pointed neck piercing end and a disk attaching heel end, and a press fastenable seal disk composed of a dome-shaped disk part, the circumferential sides of which are provided with a central pair of holes through which the shackle may be threaded to preliminarily attach the seal disk thereto and two additional pairs of holes through which the shackle may be rethreaded preparatory to the ress fastening operation, a fiat sheet-meta disk part arranged to interact with those portions of the shackle within the seal disk, and a label disk backed by said sheet-metal disk part, all the parts of the seal disk being inseparably united by a circumferential seam, substantially as hereinbefore specified.

EDWARD J. BROOKS.

Witnesses H. L. O. WEVER, RICHARD CoNDoN. 

